Megane chan
by Genocide Never Again
Summary: The neighbour's dog has eaten Marui's contacts so he has to resort to wearing his glasses. One problem: They transform him into Clumsy Marui. Follow him as he waits for his new contacts and see how he manages to survive. Very probable HaruMaru.
1. Prologue

Okay, so here's the first chapter of **_Megane-chan_**! Well, prologue but the prologue is part of the story and it's important since it's the beginning and every story needs somewhere to start and crap, I'm rambling, sorry about that and I'm shutting up now. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis

* * *

><p><em><strong>Prologue<strong>_

Marui sighed happily as his house came into view. Tennis practice had been absolutely _gruelling_ that day and he was looking forward to putting his feet up and having a nice long bath…

"Dai's got a girlfriend, Dai's got a girlfriend!" Taichi laughed, waving what looked to be a love letter around. He ran past Marui, almost knocking him over.

"Taichi, be careful!" Marui called after his brother as he quickly righted himself only to be knocked over completely as Daichi ran past.

"Sorry Bunta-nii! Tai, she's not my girlfriend! Now give me back that letter!" Daichi yelled. Marui barely herd the apology as dust was thrown up into his eyes by his fall. He got into a kneeling position and rubbed his stinging, watery eyes. He blinked when his vision suddenly went blurry.

"Aw crap, don't tell me I dropped them…!" Marui cursed as he desperately felt around on the ground.

"Bunta-san? Have you lost something?" Marui looked up and just made out the blurry outline of the neighbour's son, Iori, and his dog, Shio.

"Hey Iori-kun. I've lost me contact lenses. Do you mind helping me find them?" Marui asked. Iori nodded as he got down on his hands and knees and began searching. They searched for several minutes when Iori noticed Shio sniffing at something on the ground. He looked closer and realised that Shio was sniffing the contacts just as Shio opened his mouth.

"No, Shio, don't-" Iori's call came too late as Shio licked the contacts up and swallowed them. "-eat them…" Marui looked over a Iori.

"Iori-kun? Please don't tell me that was what it sounded like." Marui pleaded. Iori sent him an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Bunta-san, but Shio's eaten your contacts." Marui groaned as he allowed himself to fall backwards.

"Let the hell begin."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well, that's the first chapter/prologue/thing done! I hope you enjoyed it! The next installment will be up next week!


	2. Chapter One

Well, here's the next chapter of Megane-chan. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter and answered my question. I hope you enjoy chpater one!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

* * *

><p><strong><em><span>Chapter One<span>_**

Akaya was just entering the changing room when he heard the tail end of a conversation.

"Okay, Marui, you can have the next few weeks off. Be careful getting to your homeroom." Yukimura said. Akaya heard Marui murmur a small 'thank you' and stepped to the side to allow Marui out of the changing room. Akaya was confused to see him wearing glasses and turned to Yukimura.

"'Mura-buchou, why won't Marui-senpai be playing tennis for a few weeks? And why was he wearing glasses just now?" Akaya asked as Yukimura walked over to the door so he could watch Marui walk away.

"Well, you see, Akaya, Marui has very bad eyesight. Usually he wears contacts but his neighbour's dog ate them so he has to wear his glasses until he gets some new ones." Yukimura explained. Akaya wrinkled his nose in thought.

"But that doesn't explain why he's not playing tennis. I know that Marui-senpai might not be used to wearing glasses but Yagyuu-senpai wears glasses and plays just fine." Akaya said. Yukimura sighed a little as he thought of how to explain.

"Marui has two personas. When he's wearing contacts, he's Normal Marui. When he's wearing glasses-" There was a yelp and Yukimura and Akaya looked over to see Marui tripping over air, "-he becomes Clumsy Marui. He's not allowed to do any sports since he trips over a lot and might hurt himself badly. Unfortunately, the opticians don't have his prescription on their computer since it's been a few months since he last went and the earliest appointment they have is in two weeks time and then it'll take at least another week for his contacts to arrive."

"Oooh…" Akaya said as everything became clear. "Does that mean I get to have Marui-senpai's after practice cake?" Yukimura laughed as he pushed the second year into the changing room.

"Maybe if you're a good boy. Now hurry before I let Genichirou assign you extra laps." Akaya had never changed so fast in his life.

* * *

><p>It was the middle of English, the first lesson of the day, and Niou was pretending to translate the sentences on the board. He was actually planning his next prank but what the teacher didn't know, wouldn't hurt, right? Niou vaguely heard the teacher asking for answers and made sure to look up to make it look like he was paying attention.<p>

"Marui-kun, please come up and write the first answer." The teacher said. Niou heard the scraping of a chair behind him and counted down in his head until the redhead went past. Marui always took four seconds to walk from his seat to Niou's. Niou always teased Marui about his regular-ness; Marui always teased Niou for noticing.

Niou's countdown was interrupted by a loud 'THUD'. He looked down and winced when he saw a familiar looking pair of glasses, a fallen redhead just behind them. Marui got to his knees and started groping around for his glasses. Niou picked the glasses up and slid them on to Marui's face, the violet-eyed boy blinking at the sudden clearness before smiling gratefully at Niou. Marui got to his feet again and was about to start walking when Niou grabbed him by his waist and pulled him into the empty seat next to him.

"Yo, sensei, you weren't here in our first year. Maru isn't allowed to answer stuff at the board when he's wearing glasses since he just falls over, puri." Niou drawled out as he kept a tight grip round the squirming Marui's waist. The teacher raised an eyebrow and looked at the rest of the class who all nodded. She sighed.

"Okay, I won't call Marui-kun up until he gets some new contacts but does he really have to sit next to you, Niou-kun?" She asked exasperatedly.

"Someone needs to make sure he isn't constantly dropping stuff and falling out of his seat. Besides, neither of us sit next to anyone so it's not like we're upsetting anything or one." Niou answered boredly. The class once again nodded in agreement and Marui stopped struggling, his face flushed to match his hair. He wasn't that bad, was he? The teacher sighed, knowing she couldn't dispute a whole class.

"Okay, Marui-kun can sit next to you, Niou-kun. Go and get his stuff." Niou nodded with a short 'puri' and quickly got Marui's stuff. Once the class settled down, the teacher resumed teaching. "Okay, since you stopped Marui-kun from answering the question, you can answer instead, Niou-kun." Niou slammed his head on the desk.

* * *

><p>"Where's Niou-senpai? Has he got detention?" Akaya asked as he pulled on his tennis shirt, hoping the answer to the latter question was 'yes'. If it wasn't then it meant Niou was probably planning a prank and Akaya seemed to be his favourite person to prank at the moment (and of all time). Before anybody could begin to answer, Niou entered with Marui's hand in his. Niou guided Marui over to a bench and pushed him down on to it.<p>

"Don't move, puri." Niou ordered before moving to get changed. Marui pouted a little but barely moved a muscle as he sat there. Akaya blinked as he finally saw Marui with glasses properly.

"Marui-senpai, you look…very, very, very, very, very different." Akaya said as he picked up his tennis racket. Marui smiled a tiny bit at the wording.

"Most people do look different with glasses. Remember the first time 'Haru stole Yagyuu's glasses? The only reason we knew it was 'Haru was because of his hair." Maru said with a small laugh. Akaya nodded uncertainly.

"I guess. But whenever I think of you with glasses, I think of thin frames that make you look cool like Yagyuu-senpai. You have really thick glasses that make you look nerdy." Akaya said a little too truthfully. Marui froze before hanging his head downcastedly. Yukimura took Akaya to one side to give him a small lecture on what was and was not okay to say but was interrupted by Niou shutting his locker loudly. They both looked over as Niou extended a hand towards Marui. The redhead looked up at him.

"Come on, you can't stay in here all practice. I need to make sure you don't move about and trip over stuff." Niou said. Marui smiled a tiny bit and took the hand. Niou pulled him to his feet and tugged him outside, Marui stumbling slightly after him. Outside, Niou pushed Marui down on to a small grassy slope that faced the tennis courts. "Stay here. If you need to get up then call me. I'll walk you home so just wait here." Marui nodded and Niou went to do his warm up laps.

It was an extra long practice that day since practice the day before had to be cancelled and peachy streaks were starting to line the sky by the time practice was ended. When Niou went to get Marui, he found the volley specialist slumbering peacefully, a drawing pad and fallen pencil case next to him. Niou put the things away before waking Marui, pulling him to his feet as soon as his eyes opened and shoving his bag into his arms.

"Come on, I'm gonna miss dinner at this rate and I still need to get you home. We'll take the bus so there's less chance of you tripping yourself up, puri." Niou said, harsh but with an underlying gentleness as he took Marui's hand and began guiding the still sleepy boy away from the courts. Akaya looked up at Yukimura.

"'Mura-buchou, is it me or is Niou-senpai acting differently from usual?" He asked. Yukimura gave him a smile, half amused and half nostalgic, as he ruffled the boy's hair.

"It's not you. This is actually how Niou acted in our first year when Marui still wore glasses regularly. Everybody found it amusing how often Marui tripped up and how comical he looked so they always laughed. Niou was the only one who noticed how Marui's knees were permanently bandaged and how sad he got when people laughed at him Since he noticed, Niou took it upon himself to look after Marui. When he was younger, Niou was much more of a rebel and kinda scary so nobody dared to mess with him. Unfortunately, he was so scary that he scared Marui and Marui always ran away from him which usually resulted in him tripping up and causing more laughter. Be glad that Niou toned down the scariness for Marui or he would be playing a lot more and a lot meaner pranks you. Though it seems that seeing Marui with glasses again has caused a bit of his old personality to return." Yukimura said as he dug around in his for something. He extracted a slice of cake wrapped in cling film and Akaya's eyes lit up.

"Is that Marui-senpai's after practice cake?" Akaya asked hopefully. Yukimura nodded and Akaya began drooling a little.

"You can have it, Akaya, but you have to thank Marui tomorrow since he pays for all the cake we get him and promise me not to call him a nerd again, okay? It hurts his feelings." Yukimura asked. Akaya nodded quickly and cheered as Yukimura handed him the delicious cake. Yukimura smiled at his childishness but inside he was a little worried; he hoped Akaya would keep his promise.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** And there we go! I hope you all enjoyed Chapter One! The next chapter will be up the same time next week! See ya! (I think I abused exclamation points just then...)


	3. Chapter Two

This is the last of pre-prepared chapters. I'll try my best to update regularly but there might be weeks where I'm one or two days behind. Hopefully it won't come to that but just in case. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Two<strong>_

Niou was a little late for practice the next morning but he had a viable reason: Marui. To make sure he didn't fall over and hurt himself, Niou had offered to walk Marui to and from school until he got some new contacts. Niou had set his alarm clock a lot earlier than usual to factor in picking Marui up and Marui had been waiting for him at the front door so that had all been fine. It had been when they got to the park that problems had arisen.

Niou had noticed that his shoelace was undone and he let go off Marui's hand for a moment to tie it. In that moment, a dog chasing a cat chasing a squirrel ran past them. The dog ran a little too close to Marui and the redhead had to take a step back to avoid being tripped. Whilst he had one foot in the air, a strong gust of wind blew past. It had knocked Marui off his already precarious balance and Marui fell heavily to the ground, scratching the palms of his hands. Niou had had to wash the scratches out carefully to prevent any infections and they had had to take a big detour to go to the supermarket to get some bandages.

Fortunately, Niou had expected and accepted that there might be a delay so he had worn his tennis uniform to school. He just stopped for a moment to sit Marui down in the same spot as the previous day and to grab his tennis racket before running off to do his warm up laps.

Leaving everything in Sanada's capable hands, Yukimura jogged over to Marui.

"Hey 'Mura-buchou." Marui greeted as soon as Yukimura was in hearing range. "It's my fault that 'Haru's late so please don't punish him." Yukimura nodded with a small smile.

"Don't worry, Niou told me that he was walking you to school today so I guessed something had happened that was out of his hands. Speaking of hands, how are yours?" Yukimura asked, holding his hands out for Marui's so he could inspect them.

"They're fine, just a couple of scratches. 'Haru bandaged them real good." Marui as he extended his arms. Yukimura took his hands carefully, inspecting the bandages thoroughly to make sure they had been applied correctly. Satisfied that they were, Yukimura let go of Marui's hands and ruffled his hair gently with a smile before going back to tennis practice.

When practice ended, Niou changed as quickly as he could before going to get Marui. Even though practice had ended late and they were going to be late for homeroom, Marui was still sitting patiently on the hill, bag on his shoulder, ready. He smiled when Niou extended a hand and took it, allowing himself to be hauled to his feet.

"Sorry 'bout taking so long. I bet it's boring for you, puri." Niou said a little guiltily. Marui shook his head.

"It's fine, it's Yanagi's fault for not keeping an eye on the time. Besides, this way I get to pick apart all your moves and beat you next time we have a match." Niou snorted lightly.

"In your dreams. The only thing you'll ever beat me at is being a girl." Niou scoffed. Marui pouted and shoved him playfully and Niou grinned as he made to shove Marui back lightly. Akaya ran past at that moment, bumping into Marui and almost knocking him over and Niou had to quickly turn the shove into a catch. "Oi, Bakaya, watch where you're going!"

"Sorry, senpai, but if I'm late again I'll get detention!" Akaya yelled back before disappearing into school.

"Bloody brat, I'll prank him for this." Niou grumbled as he kept a tight grip on Marui's shoulder and hand. Marui shook the hands off and gently held on to Niou's upper arm as they walked.

"It was an accident, 'Haru, you don't need to get him. Now let's hurry before we get detention." Marui smiled and Niou took a deep, calming breath before nodding and letting Marui tug him along.

Over the next few days, a slightly disturbing pattern started to emerge around Akaya. He and Marui had had a rather amicable relationship before but that had seemed to have gone down the drain. Akaya kept bumping into Marui as if he didn't notice was there and barely talked to him, even when Marui said something to him. The only times he spoke to the redhead was when he was teasing him, something which obviously hurt Marui's feelings a little. This annoyed Niou to no end but a few words from Marui always calmed him. It was Friday lunchtime when things came to a head.

Niou had lost some important English sheet and he and Marui had gone to photocopy Marui's copy. On the way back from the library they had to go down a small flight of steps. A few metres from the steps, Marui tripped up. His arms windmilled as he hopped forward, desperately trying not to fall over. He let out a small 'phew' of relief as he stopped just a foot away from the top step. Unluckily for him, a stray baseball suddenly appeared and hit him in the small of his back, knocking him off his balance and sending him tumbling down the steps. As Niou quickly ran to check if Marui was okay, there was a loud snort that set everyone else off laughing. Niou looked up sharply and his gaze hardened when he saw who had snorted: Akaya. Niou stood up sharply and tool a threatening step forwards but was stopped by Marui quickly grabbing his sleeve.

"It's okay, 'Haru. I'm fine. It's okay." Marui said, his eyes pleading Niou not to make a scene. Niou closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose. He sent one last glare at the still laughing Akaya before helping Marui to his feet.

"Let's get you to the medical room to make sure you're completely fine, puri." Niou said as he guided Marui in the right direction, an annoyed scowl on his face as the laughter continued.

"Akaya!" The second year's head snapped up at the yell of his name and he quickly spotted Yukimura. The bluenette was gesturing him to come over so Akaya quickly trotted over to his favourite senpai. As soon as he was close enough, Yukimura grabbed Akaya's arm and began pulling him towards a quieter spot. As he was pulled along, Akaya frowned. Yukimura rarely treated him so roughly so that meant it was either something majorly important or he had done something very, very bad.

When they got to a secluded area, Yukimura turned on Akaya.

"Akaya, why did you laugh at Marui? I thought I told you not to! Especially not when he's just fallen down stairs! He could've been seriously hurt!" Yukimura yelled angrily. Akaya was taken aback by the unusual aggressiveness before he was filled with self-righteous anger.

"Hey, you only told me not to call him a nerd, which I haven't! And he wasn't hurt, he said himself that he was fine! Besides, I wasn't the only one laughing so don't just yell at me!" Akaya shouted back. He froze when Yukimura pinned him with a dark glare.

"All I can remember from our first year is Marui saying 'I'm fine' all the time, even when he was obviously not. The only time he maybe might've possibly said that he was not fine, he was unconscious. Marui, no matter what persona he's using, will do anything to make people not worry. You, Akaya, should know that." Yukimura said in a low and dangerous voice that sounded a lot more scary than if he had shouted.

"Wait, why was Marui-senpai unconscious?" Akaya asked as he tilted his head to one side, starting to get a little concerned. Yukimura growled.

"That isn't important! What's important is why. Did. You. Laugh?" Yukimura punctuated each word with a shake of Akaya's shoulder.

"I don't know! The way he was moving his arms and hopping on one foot maybe! Besides, I get shown up by nerds everyday so it's nice to be able to laugh at them for once!" Akaya shouted heatedly. In that moment, Yukimura's look went from angry to disappointed.

"So you're basing your actions on appearances? Even though you know the Marui behind the glasses and have done for almost two years? I didn't realise you were so shallow." Yukimura sighed sadly as he let go off Akaya's and began walking away. Just before he disappeared round a corner, Yukimura looked back at the second year. "Akaya, I suggest you take a long, hard look at yourself." And with that, he left.

Akaya was shocked. Not only at how severe Yukimura had been but also because he was right. Now that Akaya thought about it, he had been treating Marui differently from usual.

'_It's not my fault! I'm treating him differently coz he's acting differently! Those glasses made him stop playing tennis! I can't imagine not playing tennis! I wouldn't be able to live without tennis! Just because he doesn't want to get hurt and worry us…'_ "Oh." Akaya now felt extremely guilty. It wasn't Marui's fault that he had bad eyesight and glasses that prevented him from playing tennis. He probably definitely missed playing the sport that they all loved. "Maybe I should apologise to Marui-senpai…" Akaya murmured as he quickly started to walk towards the medical room.

Halfway there, Akaya bumped into Niou and Marui. The tensai had his left wrist bandaged and in a sling and his eyes were rimmed with the lightest red.

"Marui-senpai, are you okay? What happened to your arm?" Akaya asked worriedly as he moved forward to have a proper look. He stopped when Marui hid behind Niou a little, holding on to his arm with his good hand as the Trickster glared at Akaya.

"He's sprained his wrist. Now if you'll excuse us, _Kirihara_, we have a lesson to get to, puri." Niou said snappishly as he put an arm round Marui's shoulders and gently guided him away from the second year. As they walked away, Akaya could see Marui berating Niou softly though it seemed more half-hearted than before.

Akaya felt hurt. He knew he hadn't been the bestest of friends towards Marui over the last few days but for Marui to actually hide from him? Had he really been that much of a jerk? And Niou had used such a mean voice…

"Wait, what did Niou-senpai say about getting to lesson?" Akaya asked the air as he checked the time on his mobile. "Crap, I'm late!"

* * *

><p>Akaya sighed as he flung himself into his seat. He wasn't as late as he thought he was since his mobile clock was apparently a bit fast and he was lucky in the fact that the teacher had yet to arrive. The teacher finally arrived with some poor excuse about losing their lesson plan, which no one believed. Everybody knew that he and the Maths teacher were going out. Either way, their Geography lesson finally started.<p>

"Okay, class, over the next few weeks you're going to be working in pairs on a project. I've worked out all the pairings already. No complaints or swapsies, understood?" The class grumbled out an affirmative and the teacher began writing up all the pairs on the board. Akaya almost groaned when he saw who he was partnered with. Akizaki Cheren, the class nerd.

'_Wait, is this like with Marui-senpai and I'm just calling him a nerd coz of his looks?'_ Akaya thought as Akizaki made his way over to his desk. To be fair, Akizaki did have very thick-framed glasses that positively screamed 'nerd'. Akizaki sat down next to Akaya. Before either could say anything, there was a loud grumbling sound. Akaya stared as Akizaki flushed lightly.

"Sorry. I was running away from my sister this morning and forgot to grab my lunch." Akizaki explained quietly so the teacher couldn't hear them as he opened his book to make it look like they were working. Akaya raised an eyebrow as he copied the other's actions.

"Why was she chasing you?" Akaya asked as he began doodling so it looked like he was writing.

"You know how if you put a sleeping person's hand in a glass of warm water, they're supposed to wet the bed? I wanted to know if it actually worked and I tried it on my sister." Akizaki answered. Akaya bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing. Why hadn't he thought of doing that to his sister? He could take pictures and blackmail her into buying loads of manga and ice cream… "Ugh, I can't be bothered to do work." Akizaki mumbled before raising his voice. "Sensei, it's a bit noisy in here. May Kirihara-san and I go to the library instead?" the teacher nodded and the two quickly gathered their stuff and left.

"How did you manage that? Usually sensei is really strict!" Akaya exclaimed when they were far away from the classroom. Akizaki shrugged.

"When you have glasses, teachers immediately assume that you're smart, a good boy and that they can trust you. Let's go to the library. The fiction section has loads of cool manga and really tall shelves that you can sleep behind. And I don't suppose you have a chocolate bar in your bag, do you?" He asked hopefully.

"Nope but I do have one better." Akaya grinned as he took out a slice of cake. It had been Marui's after morning practice cake but since he wasn't doing practice, Yukimura had given it to him. Akizaki descended in it greedily, quickly thanking Akaya before he ate it. "You know, you're not how I expected you to be." Akizaki looked at Akaya, swallowing the last bit of cake.

"You probably thought I was a nerd, right? Because of my glasses as well, I bet. Honestly, I hate these glasses. The only reason I have them is because my Kaa-chan chose them since I can't see what I look like when I'm trying glasses on." Akizaki's voice sounded slightly bitter and Akaya suddenly felt guilty. He had a bad habit of categorising people on how they looked but he hadn't realised that it could hurt some people's feelings. He was going to fix that.

"Akizaki-san, can we hang out this weekend so I can desensitise myself to nerds?" Akaya asked seriously.

"…I don't know whether to be insulted or not." Akaya shook his head.

"It's not an insult. It's just that your glasses make you look like a super nerd but you're the complete opposite and kinda cool. I hope that by hanging out with you I'll be able to stop seeing the glasses and stop being mean to Marui-senpai." Akaya explained. Akizaki looked confused when he brought up Marui so Akaya decided to expand a little. "Marui-senpai lost his contacts and has to wear his glasses now but they look even nerdier than yours. Thing is, I'm not the smartest person in the world and real nerds keep showing me up and making people laugh at me so now I automatically hate everyone who looks like a nerd. Since Marui-senpai now looks like a nerd, I've been really mean to him and hurt his feelings but he's my friend so I don't wanna hurt him so I'm hoping that-"

"-by hanging out with me, you'll desensitise yourself to nerdy looking people." Akizaki completed the circle of explanation with a small nod. "Okay, let's hang out then. We need to do that project and I'll see if I can get my brother to help us. He's a nice nerd."

"A nice nerd? That mythical being actually exists?" Akaya exclaimed with wide eyes. Akizaki nodded.

"Yep, there are nerds out there who help the average and idiots instead of laughing at them." Akaya's eyes went sparkly.

"Wow…" Akizaki couldn't help but burst into laughter. Akaya grinned and laughed along as they walked towards the library. _'I'm not going to hurt Marui-senpai ever again.'_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I hope you enoyed this chapter. Until next week! Bai bai!


	4. Chapter Three

Sorry it took such a long time to complete this chapter. Harry Potter, Solitaire and older sisters are very distracting. On the bright side, I got my AS results last Thursday and got the necessary grades to go on to my second year. It's nice not to have that hanging over my head anymore.

Unfortunately, I have several sleepovers and summer homework to do so they'll probably be similar wait before the next chapter. Sorry about this but I hope this chapter makes up for it!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

* * *

><p><strong><em><span>Chapter Three<span>_**

Akaya walked towards the tennis courts with his head held high. After hanging out with Akizaki and his brother almost all weekend, he had completely desensitised to nerdy looking people. Akizaki had even tested him with a load of pictures of people who looked like nerds. Akaya had managed to not say nerd to any of them except for one of an anime character that he knew was a nerd.

"Hey senpai-tachi!" Akaya greeted chipperly as he burst into the changing room. Everybody returned the greeting but Akaya noticed that two voices were missing. He looked round and his smile turned into a confused frown. "Where's Niou-senpai and Marui-senpai?"

"Niou's having a few fillings done and he won't be in until just before lunch so Marui's coming in later with his brothers." Jackal explained as he pulled his T-shirt on and adjusted his wristbands. Akaya deflated slightly.

"Oh…" He said dejectedly as he sluggishly opened his locker. Yukimura looked over at him suspiciously.

"Why are you asking?" Yukimura enquired apprehensively.

"I wanted to apologise to Marui-senpai for being so mean last week." Akaya answered as he changed as quickly as his depressed state allowed. He did not want a slap from Sanada for taking too long. Yukimura instantly lightened up at the answer and he ruffled Akaya's hair.

"That's okay then! Now hurry up, Aka-chan, the sooner you get to practise the sooner you can have some cake!" Yukimura sang cheerfully as he snuggled Akaya before skipping over to his locker to get his tennis racket. Akaya blinked confusedly, holding his shirt in front of his body a little fearfully. Yukimura in a bad mood was scary but a hyper, singing Yukimura? That was downright frightening. Yanagi walked over to Akaya, placing a hand on his shoulder and jolting Akaya out of his terrified stupor.

"Don't worry about Seiichi. He's just glad he doesn't have to be mad at you anymore." Yanagi said as he took the shirt out of Akaya's hands and replaced it with his tennis shirt. "And I would hurry up if I were you. Genichirou's mood is 47% worse than usual today. Seiichi has been moaning to him all weekend about how his precious baby has gone bad so he is not most appreciative of you this morning. I will try to distract him until you get out but there is only a 7.6% chance of it working so you might want to hurry." Akaya blinked as the words processed before nodding.

"Okay. Thanks Yanagi-senpai." Akaya said as he pulled his shirt on. Yanagi squeezed his shoulder before grabbing his tennis racket and going outside. Akaya quickly started to change into the rest of his tennis uniform.

'_Sigh, I wish Marui-senpai was here… Wait, did I just think a sigh? Either way, my thought still stands. I want to apologise to Marui-senpai as quickly as possible so I can stop making him sad. Why did Niou-senpai have to go to the dentist today? Stupid Niou-senpai.'_ Akaya sighed out loud before grabbing his tennis racket and creeping over to the door. He sneaked a peek outside before breathing out another sigh, this one of relief. The area was Sanada-free. Akaya stood up properly and walked outside, mentally thanking Yanagi.

"Tarundoru!"

So much for no Sanada…

* * *

><p>Akaya prodded his still stinging cheek, hissing in pain as he walked round the school. His rather scatter-brained Art teacher had forgotten to take the register to the reception after homeroom so she had asked Akaya to take it for her. Akaya had ran to the reception and was now milking his walk back to class. It wasn't that he disliked Art but he did dislike school so he took any excuse he could not to go to lesson.<p>

As Akaya ambled back to class, he went near the tennis courts. His ears perked up as they caught the sound of bouncing balls and pinging rackets and he curiously backtracked to the courts. There was a class going on, third years judging by the heights. Akaya was about to put them down to all having sloppy backhands and was about to walk away when he spotted a familiar head of red.

"Marui-senpai? Why is he playing tennis? I thought 'Mura-buchou said he couldn't do any sports in case he hurt himself…" Akaya murmured to himself confusedly as he walked closer to the courts to get a better look. Marui was playing against one of the girls in his class and, whilst he was running a lot slower and playing more carefully than usual, he was still playing just fine. "Then why…" Before Akaya could finish his thought, the teacher suddenly spoke up.

"Pick up the pace, ya pansies! This ain't no walk in the park, this is P.E.! Stop slacking and go faster!" The guy barked. Akaya quickly glanced up at the teacher but didn't recognise him.

'_Must be a sub.'_ Akaya thought as all the students immediately started playing harder at the order. Akaya looked back at Marui who had also began running faster but the redhead hadn't even taken two steps at the new speed before he tripped. A sickening crack sounded and Akaya quickly sprang into action. "Marui-senpai! Are you okay?" Akaya yelled out worriedly as he ran on to the courts and over to Marui. Marui looked up at him in surprise and confusion before wincing and holding his wrist carefully. It was his left wrist, the wrist that he had sprained on Friday though it looked a lot worse now. Akaya carefully helped Marui to his feet, starting to lead him away from the tennis courts. "Come on, Marui-senpai, we'd better get you to the infirmary." Akaya murmured worriedly as he guided Marui to the gate. They were stopped by a big, beefy and sickeningly hairy arm.

"Oi, where d'ya think ya going? Class ain't over yet." The teacher growled. Akaya pinned him with his best glare, which made even his sister hesitate before annoying him.

"I'm taking Marui-senpai to the infirmary since he's hurt his wrist so if you'll excuse us…" Akaya batted the arm out of the way and pulled Marui out of the tennis courts.

Marui stumbled along behind Akaya as they walked towards the infirmary, the second year walking too fast for him to gain his footing.

"W-wait, Akaya, slow down! I'm about to-" Marui cut himself off with a yelp as he tripped over, coming close to pulling Akaya down with him. Akaya just managed to stay upright and he turned round so he could help Marui back to his feet.

"Sorry Marui-senpai. It's just that teachers aren't supposed to be stupid so stupid ones annoy me. Are you okay? Besides the obvious, of course." Akaya said as he carefully helped Marui to his feet, making sure that he had no scratches on him.

"Yeah, I'm fine-Whoa!" Marui squeaked as Akaya suddenly swept him up into his arms. "Akaya, what are you doing?"

"Sorry, Marui-senpai, but if you fall over again then you might hurt your wrist more and we've still got to go up a flight of stairs to get to the infirmary." Akaya explained with a sheepish grin as Marui blushed candy apple red at the way he was being carried and pouted like a child.

"Good thing everybody's in lesson. This is so embarrassing." Marui groused quietly before looking up at Akaya puzzledly. "Why are you helping me anyway? I thought you didn't like nerds…" Akaya shook his head so vigorously that he made himself dizzy.

"Marui-senpai's not a nerd, he's my friend. Even if you were a nerd, you would be a nice, cute one, not a nasty nerd that nobody likes." Akaya said stubbornly before looking apologetically at Marui. "Sorry about last week. I didn't mean to hurt you; I was being an idiot. Sorry for laughing at you." Akaya's eyes slid to the side ashamedly as he apologised before widening in surprise when Marui suddenly flung his good arm round his neck, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Marui whispered happily as he awkwardly hugged Akaya, pulling back when the second year started to make oxygen deprived spluttering sounds. "Sorry, I was really happy. I'm glad we're good friends again." Akaya blushed lightly, pleased at the words, as he carefully made his way up the stairs that they had come to.

"Come on, we're almost at the infirmary." Akaya said embarrassedly as they quickly arrived outside the infirmary. With a tricky bit of manoeuvring and a lot of difficulty with balance, Akaya managed to slide the door open with his foot. Inside, the school nurse was sitting at her desk, looking decidedly bored as she read her book. She looked up as the door opened, her uninterested look instantly brightening up when she saw the duo.

"Hello! What's happened here? Let me guess, a sprained ankle?" The nurse questioned as she gestured for Akaya to put Marui down on the bed.

"Wrist, actually. Akaya was just making sure that I didn't fall over and hurt myself more." Marui explained as the nurse began bustling around him. The nurse nodded a little distractedly as she began checking his wrist, inspecting the swelling and prodding it carefully.

"Okay, it's painful but it isn't serious so I'll just bandage it quickly. Try to keep your wrist still so it can heal more quickly, I'll put it in a sling to help. You only need to wear the sling for today whilst you get used to keeping it still and to help with the initial pain. I'll give you some painkillers and I can give you some more at lunch if it still hurts but don't take too many. No pain no gain, it has to get worse before it gets better and all that lark." The nurse said as she bandaged the sprained wrist with practiced ease. Marui nodded in understanding, wincing as the nurse wrapped the bandages tightly. Akaya, who had stayed by Marui's side after he had put him down, squeezed his shoulder comfortingly as the sling was put on. Marui took the proffered painkillers, pulling a face as the pills dissolved slightly and left a nasty taste before he quickly downed them with some water. "Okay, you can go back to lesson now. If your wrist starts acting up or you're a little worried or something, just come to me, okay?" Marui nodded as he stood up.

"Okay, Minami-san. Thanks for the help." Marui gave a small smile which the nurse returned brightly as he and Akaya left. When the door closed, Akaya carefully put his arm round Marui's shoulders.

"Come on, Marui-senpai, I'll walk you back to the changing rooms and help you with your uniform." Akaya offered as he gently helped Marui down the stairs, looking worriedly at Marui's shoelaces which were just a tad too loose for his liking…

"Akaya, stop staring at my feet. My shoelaces are fine, they're not going to unravel the moment you look away." Marui said, a touch of humour lacing through his voice as Akaya looked up in surprise. "'Haru used to do the same thing until he realised that it meant he couldn't watch where he was going and he was the one falling over." Akaya flushed lightly and grinned sheepishly as he pushed the shoelaces to the back of his mind and focused on the stairs instead.

"That reminds me, Marui-senpai. How come wearing glasses make you so clumsy? You have really good balance when you're not wearing them." Akaya enquired as he helped Marui down the last few steps.

"It's because the kids glasses are too small for my face and the adult ones are too big. Since the kids ones all seen to have either Barbie or Batman on the frames, I went for the adult glasses but since they are too big, they keep slipping down my nose and the sudden change from clear to blurry always takes me by surprise and in the moment I'm not concentrating because of my surprise, my feet always manage to tangle themselves up and then I fall over." Marui explained as he gently pushed away the arm round his shoulder and instead laced his fingers through Akaya's and lightly rested his head on his shoulder. Akaya blushed lightly but grinned happily as they arrived at the changing rooms. Akaya helped Marui change into his school shirt but got a shoe thrown at his head when he tried to help with his trousers.

"I just wanted to help…" Akaya muttered outside the changing room door where he had been banished after the trouser incident.

"Sorry, Akaya, but there is such a thing as being too helpful." Marui said as he exited the changing room, awkwardly slinging on his shoulder bag. Akaya still pouted. "Akaya, think of it this way: If 'Haru found out that you helped me change into my trousers in particular, think of how much teasing we would get. Also, do you really want to know what my underwear looks like?" Akaya looked stricken and then pulled a face.

"When you put it that way, never mind." Akaya said, his face still scrunched up. It smoothed out and he took Marui's hand, tugging him towards the school's main building again. "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" Marui asked as he scrunched his nose to stop his glasses slipping too much.

"Back to my Art lesson. That sub is a crazy bastard and there's no way he'd let you sit out. Besides, you're my excuse as to why I'm so late getting back." Akaya answered as he held the door open for Marui. The redhead looked back a little worriedly.

"Shouldn't we at least tell my sub? You can just growl it at him and then drag me away like last time." Marui said. Akaya shrugged.

"Naw, that guy'll probably just think that you stuck to the infirmary. You can't see the changing rooms that easily from the tennis courts so he wouldn't have seen us go there and then sneak off. The infirmary is the next logical conclusion." Akaya said simply as they walked past the classrooms. Marui grinned a little.

"Never thought I'd hear you say logical, let alone whilst being logical. I thought you usually leave that stuff to Yanagi." Marui teased as they steadily drew closer to Akaya's classroom.

"Hey, why use your own brain when someone is willing to use it for you?" Akaya countered with another shrug. "Besides, having Yanagi-senpai help leaves more brain power for figuring out how to escape Niou-senpai." Marui threw back his head and laughed.

* * *

><p>Niou grimaced as he prodded his still slightly numb jaw. The anaesthetic had worn off enough for him to eat and to talk with minimum slurring but he still had a weird tingly feeling in his jaw.<p>

Since it was the start of lunch, Niou decided that he might as well head to the cafeteria. As he walked into the large and noisy room, he set a course for the table the team usually sat at, nimbly making his way through the gaggles of giggling girls and bands of boisterous boys. The table was empty except for a single redhead, the others presumably having gone to get lunch. As Niou got closer, he noticed that Marui's arm was in a sling again. His eyes widened and he quickly ran the last few yards.

"Maru, are you okay? What happened to your arm, puri?" Niou demanded to know as he slid into the seat next to the redhead. Marui looked up in surprise before smiling. He opened his mouth to answer but someone spoke over him.

"Here ya go, Marui-senpai." Akaya said with a grin as he put a plate of food down in front of Marui. As he did so, he felt the distinct burn of someone glaring at him. He looked over a tiny bit and paled slightly when he saw Niou giving him an extremely dark glower.

"What are you doing here, Kirihara?" Niou snarled as he put a protective arm round Marui's shoulders. Before Akaya could make a squeak, the glare turned into a look of surprise as Marui gently pushed Niou's arm away.

"Calm down, 'Haru. We had a sub for P.E. who made me play tennis. I was fine for a while until he told me to run faster, at which point I tripped and fell. I landed on my wrist and made the sprain worse. Fortunately, Akaya was there and he saved me from the mean teacher and took me to the infirmary." Marui explained as he took Akaya's hand and rested his head on the second year's arm, knowing that Niou wouldn't glare so much at Akaya if he was in the way.

"Hash he apologished?" Niou asked, mentally wincing at the slurring. Damn, he hated fillings! Marui smiled slightly as he nodded and Niou crossed his arms, his eyes narrowing a bit as he thought. "Okay then but, Akaya, if you do what you did lasht week again then I will not heshitate to shove your tennish racketsh up your arshe, you got that, puri?" Akaya gulped and nodded. Niou nodded once, looking mildly placated as he got his own bento out of his bag. Akaya sighed relievedly as Niou's attention was redirected and he slumped down into his seat.

"You okay, Akaya?" Marui asked kindly as he gently ruffled Akaya's hair.

"I thought 'Mura-buchou and Fukubuchou were scary when angry. Niou-senpai is just as bad." Akaya groaned as he stabbed an overcooked pepper. Marui patted his back with a sympathetic smile as Niou looked distinctly unimpressed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I hope you liked this chapter. Until next time!


	5. Chapter Four

Sorry this is so late, things have been kind of hectic. Thanks for putting up with me. I would also like to thank my friend Shazam for proof reading part of this for me. She helped me spot quite a few silly mistakes. Now let's get on with the show!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

* * *

><p><strong><em><span>Chapter Four<span>_**

Marui hummed a little tune as he excitedly tapped his feet on the grassy verge. It was Friday, which meant the team were going to _Whirls Café_ after school. He was especially excited since he hadn't been able to go the previous week due to his busted wrist and mini fallout with Akaya. However, this week not only was he able to go, Akaya would be there _and_ he was bringing his new friend along! Marui couldn't wait.

Marui looked up as Niou came over, raising his hand so the Trickster could pull him to his feet.

"Ready to go, puri?" Niou asked as he kept Marui steady as the redhead brushed the grass blades off the back of his trousers.

"Yeah, just about. Do you mind if I go to bathroom quickly though? They don't have any at _Whirls_." Marui answered as Niou took his hand and tugged it to start him walking.

"Yeah, that's fine. Akaya said that his friend had probably fallen asleep in the library fiction section and has gone to get him so you've ten minutes." Niou said as he led Marui to the tennis changing rooms. They quickly squeezed past the last few people in the changing rooms to get to the toilets. Marui went in first and Niou was about to follow when Yagyuu stopped him.

"Niou-kun, may I talk to you about the new formation?" Yagyuu requested. Niou looked at Marui.

"Will you be okay by yourself for a couple of minutes, Maru?" Marui nodded and Niou ruffled his hair quickly before stepping towards Yagyuu and letting the door swing shut behind Marui.

Marui quickly did his business and washed his hands thoroughly before starting to make his way out of the bathroom. He was about a metre away when it suddenly opened and somebody else walked in. The person, a second year according to his badge, barged past Marui, knocking him off balance. Marui closed his eyes as he braced himself for the hard impact on the tiled floor. They snapped back open in surprise when he instead fell back on to a warm chest. The owner of the chest helped to steady him as Marui looked back to identify his saviour. He grinned widely.

"Hey Jackal! Thanks for saving me from the evil floor!" Marui said chirpily as he turned round so he could hug the Brazilian. Jackal patted his head and Marui let go as they started to walk out the bathroom.

"No problem, Marui. Don't want you getting another injury." Jackal said. Marui grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah but hopefully it won't be for much longer. I'm having my eyes checked tomorrow and then I should be getting my new contacts next week." Marui said brightly as they walked outside where the rest of the team were waiting.

Outside they were met with a strange sight. Yagyuu, the Gentleman of all gentleman, was arguing with an unknown male. Well, maybe not quite arguing but definitely debating heatedly.

"It is not my fault for having normal glasses so please stop accusing me of some sort of trickery." Yagyuu said sternly as he crossed his arms as his eyebrow twitched slightly.

"But you can't have bad eyesight or you wouldn't have cool glasses! There's no other way!" The boy exclaimed, looking close to pulling his hair out.

"Trust me, my eyesight is just as bad as yours is. I just look at the glasses before I get them."

"What about your mother? All mothers always go for the nerdiest looking glasses possible!"

"I don't go with my mother and even if I did, that does not stop me from looking at the glasses and refusing them."

"What if you can't see the glasses? What if they're just a fuzzy blob?"

"Then put your glasses on!"

"What if I don't like wearing my glasses?"

"It's true, Akizaki-san really hates wearing them. As soon as he's out of school he takes them off." Akaya interjected before the debate could continue. "He looks really, really different without his glasses. Look, with glasses he looks all mature and studious and stuff that teachers like but if you take them off," Here Akaya carefully took Akizaki's glasses from him, "he looks young and childish." The team crowded round the new second year. He admittedly did look very different without his glasses and a lot more amicable.

"I would get contacts but my mother won't let me and my mother's really scary." Akizaki muttered poutily as he squinted slightly so he could make the group out.

"I think that's something we can all agree on about mothers in general. Now, before another debate starts, why don't we all quickly introduce ourselves and head for the café?" Yukimura suggested. Akizaki looked apologetic at this and muttered a quiet apology before introducing himself, the others returning the introduction as they started to walk.

They reached _Whirls_ in a reasonable time, quickly bagging their usual table before the group of high schoolers that were eyeing it up could reach it. Sanada quickly went to order their drinks and various foods before they all squished up so they could all fit on the benches, talking to each other animatedly.

Marui had to suppress a small yawn as he listened to the conversations going on around him. Yukimura, Sanada and Yanagi were all talking about boring club matters so he didn't really want to join in; Niou and Yagyuu were talking about their new formation and Marui didn't really want to join in lest he start mixing their formation up with the one he and Jackal had been learning before his contacts had been eaten; and as for the Brazilian himself, with two second years who liked to eat quickly to watch, Jackal was working double time to make sure neither of them choked. Deciding that he might as well take matters (and boredom) into his own hands, Marui pulled his sketch pad and colouring pencils out of his bag, quickly flipped to the picture he was working on and started to colour it in.

Akaya had just finished inhaling his chocolate sundae when he noticed that Marui's was buried in his sketch pad.

"Ne, Marui-senpai, I just noticed but you're drawing a lot more than usual. Why?" Akaya asked curiously as he reached for his banana milkshake. Marui looked up at him, pushing his glasses up so Akaya wasn't a blurry blob.

"I'm drawing more 'cause drawing doesn't involve a lot of moving about so I can do it without having to worry about falling over and it's more fun than looking at textbooks." Marui answered, sitting up properly again.

"Do you mind if we see?" Akizaki wheezed out, having just been saved from choking on his tart by a hard pat on the back from Jackal. Marui lifted his sketchpad and turned it round so the two could see. Akaya and Akizaki both curiously leaned forward to look at it. And to look some more. And a bit more. Okay, now they were just plain staring.

"Marui-senpai…" Akaya said slowly.

"Yes?"

"Why have you drawn gummy bears playing tennis?" That grabbed everyone's attention. Marui just shrugged nonchalantly.

"I got bored whilst watching you guys playing tennis and was craving gummy bears. It seemed like natural conclusion at the time." Marui explained casually as he put his sketchpad down again and picked up a pencil that was the exact same shade of purple as Yagyuu's hair…

As the team watched Marui hum as he coloured in, they failed to notice as someone else sat at their table. Jackal was the first to realise.

"Hey, you're that second year that almost knocked Marui over in the bathroom!" Jackal exclaimed, drawing the group's attention to the new person. Upon hearing what Jackal said, the rest of the team immediately scowled at him, Niou positively glaring as he pulled Marui closer to him.

"Yeah. And?" The second year, who we shall now name Kuroyama, said in a cavalier manner. This just got the group's backs up even more.

"We have not invited you to sit with us nor do we want you to sit with us so please leave." Yukimura said coldly.

"Why can't I sit with you?" Kuroyama asked petulantly. "I always assumed that you only allowed regulars to sit here so I never bothered trying but I was obviously wrong since he isn't even in the tennis club anymore and since he wasn't even part of it in the first place." Kuroyama carried on, jutting his chin towards Marui and Akizaki with a sneer.

"Marui is part of the tennis club, he is just taking a short break. And even if he weren't, he is our friend, as is Akizaki-san, and our friends are allowed to sit here. Since you are far from being our friend, please leave." Jackal said sternly, using the Look that he used on Akaya when he was misbehaving on his watch and which never failed to work. The Look worked once again and Kuroyama huffed as he stood up and flounced off.

"And you have 100 laps on Tuesday morning for petulance! Tarundoru!" Sanada called after Kuroyama just before he disappeared. Marui smiled gratefully at Jackal.

"Thanks for sticking it for me and Akizaki-san, Jackal. You'd make a great teacher some day." Marui said as he wiggled out of Niou's hold and hugged Jackal. The Brazilian gave Marui a one-armed hug back.

"No problem, Marui." Jackal said bashfully as Akizaki gratefully hugged his free arm.

"But Fukubuchou, why did you give him laps for Tuesday? Why not Monday?" Akaya asked confusedly, his brow creasing in confuzzlement. The rest of the team looked at him just as confusedly.

"Didn't you hear, Akaya? There's a teacher training day on Monday so we get the day off school." Yukimura explained. Akaya shook his head cluelessly.

"Kirihara-san was a little late today so he missed the very first announcement." Akizaki explained as he turned to Akaya. "A substitute teacher that came in to teach P.E. had a bucket of glue placed on top of the P.E. office door so when he walked in he got drenched in glue and then he somehow got covered in feathers. They managed to get rid of all the feathers and glue but not before a photo had spread round the school of him looking like that and apparently he had really hairy arms but he lost all that hair when they were pulling the glue off and the guy was practically in tears it was so painful. Since he had been really mean to all his students and not very pleasant to the staff, they decided to let the student get away with it by saying to the guy that there was no way they could investigate it since the culprit left no clues and instead decided to do a teacher training day about how not to get on your students' bad sides and how to handle vengeful students." Akaya blinked.

"Wait, did you say a hairy P.E. sub? That sounds like the guy that made Marui-senpai do P.E. and then wouldn't let him go when he'd hurt his wrist." Akaya realised. A smug smirk appeared on Niou's face and Marui rolled his eyes at him.

"Tarundoru! Niou, you have 100 laps as well on Tuesday! Misbehaviour must not go unpunished!" Sanada barked. Niou's smirk immediately turned into a scowl and he spat out a venomous 'puri'. Marui patted his arm comfortingly as Akaya gestured Akizaki and Jackal closer.

"Maybe the teachers did know who the culprit was. Maybe they just knew that Fukubuchou would deal with him for them." Akaya whispered with a cheeky grin. Jackal grinned back and Akizaki laughed softly as they looked back at Niou who was now looking like a child who been caught with his hand in the cookie jar as Marui was offering him a real cookie to make him feel better. Yep, the teachers definitely knew.

* * *

><p>Marui hummed a little tune as he happily skipped along. He almost tripped over some uneven paving but a sharp tug from the hand holding his quickly righted him again. Marui looked over his shoulder and smiled gratefully at Niou who just shook his head exasperatedly as he quickly caught Marui before he fell over again, this time due to not looking where he was going.<p>

Niou and Marui had just gone to the opticians, Niou taking the redhead since all of Marui's family had been busy. Marui's eyes had been checked and a new prescription written up, meaning that Marui would once again have contacts by the end of the next week. This had left Marui feeling elated, hence the humming, skipping and almost falling over.

The duo were walking through the park, a shortcut to Marui's house, when Niou's mobile started to ring. They came to a stop and Niou sat Marui down on a nearby bench before answering.

"Hey… Hi Mum… Yeah, I'll get them… What, now? But-… Mum, I'm busy!... I'm not giving you attitude, you're giving me attitude!... Fine, fine, I'll do it now, just leave my games alone!" Niou hung up without saying goodbye. He glared at his mobile before turning to Marui with a softened, apologetic look. "Sorry but my mother's being kinda pissy and wants me to get some stuff from the supermarket for dinner right at this moment. Do you mind coming with me, puri?" Marui shook his head.

"I don't mind. But, 'Haru, I can just walk home by myself. It would save us both a lot of hassle." Marui pointed out as he stood up with Niou's help. Niou looked at him incredulously.

"Maru, you can barely walk more than three steps without someone holding on to you before you fall over. What makes you think you'll be able to get home in one piece?" Niou asked as he made to take Marui's hand. Marui quickly hid his hands behind his back so Niou couldn't grab them, pouting as he did so.

"I can walk more than three steps! I'll prove it!" Marui said stubbornly as he turned to the side and started to walk. He counted four paces out loud before stopping and starting to turn round to smirk triumphantly at Niou. "See, I told you I-Whoa!" As he turned round, Marui accidentally caught one foot behind the other's ankle and he started to fall backwards. Niou quickly lunged forwards to catch him but was beaten to it by someone stepping behind Marui and stopping his descent.

"Maru, you are going to be the death of me. Thanks, Fukubuchou." Niou sighed as Sanada steadied Marui and helped him back on to his feet. Marui smiled apologetically at Niou as he also thanked Sanada. "What are you doing here, Fukubuchou?"

"I am taking a jog round the park. I take it that you and Marui have just been to the opticians?" Sanada replied. The two nodded.

"Yeah. Fukubuchou, do you mind slowing your jog down to a walk? My mother wants some stuff picking up now and something tells me Maru won't survive the journey to the supermarket, puri." Niou said as his phone vibrated with an incoming text message, most probably from his mother asking him why he wasn't home yet.

"Hey, I'm not that bad. I just need someone to hold my hand so I don't fall over." Marui protested with a pout.

"Thus mooting the point you were trying to make earlier. Now, Fukubuchou, do you mind taking Maru home? If my mother texts me any more, my butt is going to vibrate off." Niou said as his phone pretty much went on constant vibrate his mother was sending him so many texts. When had she learnt to text so quickly?

"You could try turning your mobile off." Marui suggested as Sanada nodded, put his hand on the redhead's shoulder and began guiding him out of the park. "See ya, 'Haru!"

"See ya, puri." Niou called back as he turned in the opposite direction of the two whilst getting his phone his out of his pocket. As he pulled it out, it gave one last feeble vibration before suddenly stop. Niou flipped open the phone, internally wincing at how hot all the vibrating had made it, and saw a blank screen. Not even technology could handle his mother…

As Marui walked home with Sanada, he was still humming but he was now humming inside his head. Whilst he and Sanada were friends, they weren't that close. Sanada was stoic, traditional and always managed to make any technology he owned blow up whilst Marui was hyper, somewhat overemotional (though he didn't like admitting it) and liked trying new things, especially new gaming systems. Forget opposites attract, they were so different that the only things that they had in common were tennis and being slightly crazy.

Of course, this doesn't explain why Marui wasn't humming so I will. Sanada's traditional-ness meant that he liked traditional and somewhat old-fashioned music. Marui was much more a peppy pop person and his humming would be as such. Marui knew Sanada wouldn't like his humming and since Sanada was helping him, he had decided to not hum out loud. Now, this wouldn't matter so much if it hadn't been robbing him off the concentration that he sincerely needed.

Sanada sighed through his nose as he stopped his charge from tripping over for the fifth time in ten minutes, Marui not even seeming to notice his loss of balance. He wondered what was distracting the boy so much as he quickly righted his balance for the sixth time. He sighed again, knowing that if he didn't do something soon then Marui would fall over and most probably hurt himself.

Marui was started out of his internal humming by Sanada suddenly stopping him. He watched with confused eyes as Sanada walked in front of him before crouching down with his back to him.

"Get on, I will carry you. This way you will not trip and hurt yourself and Niou will have no reason to be annoyed with me. He's already sour enough about his laps and I don't want to give him any reason to start one of his one-sided prank wars." Sanada said as he looked impatiently over his shoulder. Marui quickly and carefully scrambled on to Sanada's back, Sanada making sure that he had a good grip on Marui's thighs before he stood up again.

"Thank you." Marui murmured as Sanada started to walk again. Sanada grunted in response before they lapsed back into silence again.

After about another five minutes of walking, Sanada suddenly felt a weird vibrating against his neck. At first he was confused as to what it was but then he realised that the vibrating area was warm which then led him to the discovery that Marui had buried his face in the crook of his neck. The logical conclusion from there was that Marui was humming against his neck. This wouldn't have bothered Sanada so much if Marui hadn't been humming on the one spot that would make Sanada lose his aloofness.

"Marui, could you please stop humming against my neck?" Sanada asked when he could take it no more. Marui blinked in surprise, not even having realised that he had started humming again.

"Sorry." Marui apologised as he lifted his head from Sanada's neck and stopped humming. Sanada just nodded his thanks as they returned to silence. Now, contrary to popular belief, Sanada liked noise. Yes, he believed that they were times and places for it but otherwise he was okay with people being loud, especially if he knew that a person was naturally loud. This meant the silence they were walking in was starting to unnerve him a bit since Marui liked to talk a lot. It was strange to not hear the redhead making some sort of noise, especially since he was no longer having to put all his concentration on not falling over. Sanada turned his head slightly to look at Marui.

"Marui?" Sanada called. Marui hmmed to show he was listening. "You can hum if you want. Just please don't hum against my neck, I'm rather ticklish there." Marui blinked in surprise.

"You're ticklish?" He repeated with a grin. Sanada glared at him and Marui, with a bit of difficulty, wiped the smile of his face. "Thank you." Marui said as he started to hum happily. Sanada looked frontways again, a small smile on his face and glad that Marui couldn't see it. He had a reputation after all.

Ten minutes later and they arrived at the Marui household. Sanada carried Marui to the front door, setting him down on the doorstep. Marui got his key out of his pocket and opened the door. He looked back at Sanada with a grateful smile.

"Thanks for walking me home. I'll make sure that 'Haru doesn't prank you too much." Marui promised. Sanada tilted his cap slightly in thanks.

"That would be much appreciated." He said as he started to turn round.

"Ah, wait!" Sanada turned back at the call and suddenly found himself with an armful of red. Marui got up on his tiptoes and kissed Sanada on the cheek. "A thank you gift for helping me." Marui giggled at Sanada's red face before carefully jogging inside.

"T-TARUNDORU!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well, that's chapter four done. I can't promise when the next chapter will be but Christmas seems realistic -.-' Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed it! See ya!


	6. Chapter Five

Merry Christmas everyone! Sorry 'bout the long wait but here's the next chapter! Unfortunately, due to exams in January and then two massive pieces of coursework spanning from February to around Easter time, I won't be able to spend much time writing Megane-chan but I will have the whole Easter holidays to write so if I don't get distracted by shiny things then the next chapter should be up about a week after Easter.

Also, I've finally remember to put a link in my profile to my fictionpress account. It isn't as active as this account but feel free to look around.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter<strong>_ **_Five_**

Marui yawned as Niou led him to the tennis courts, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. He had slept over at Niou's the night before and the Trickster had kept him up all night playing video games. It was a miracle he hadn't fallen over yet.

Niou left Marui at his usual spot on the grassy verge after making sure there was no risk of the redhead falling asleep and thus falling over and quickly ran to the changing room. Marui watched with sleep-blurred eyes as people slowly trickled out on to the courts, all beginning their warm-ups. He decided that he might as well get his drawing pad out and draw some sweets in the hope they would give him an imaginary sugar rush and keep him awake.

Yukimura sighed as he reached for his water bottle, having just finished giving out orders to the club and succeeding in giving himself a sore throat in doing so. He took a quick swig from his bottle before setting it back down again as he looked round with disinterested eyes. They were helping the first years perfect their skills so the most interesting anything would get was if Akaya got so bored that he started sleep-playing again and even that was only mildly amusing.

As Yukimura's bored gaze swept over the court, he saw Marui out the corner of his eye. He looked over at the redhead properly and saw that Marui was drawing again. Yukimura was about to sigh and look away again when he remembered a juicy piece of gossip that Yanagi had given him. He smiled like a cream-filled cat as he slinked over to Marui's hill.

Marui was just beginning to shade in his picture when a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves round his shoulders. He jumped violently in surprise, his hand thankfully jumping away from the paper instead striking pencil across it. Marui lowered his drawing stuff as he tilted his head back to see who it was.

"Hey 'Mura-buchou." Marui greeted, trying not to feel too worried as Yukimura started rubbing his cheek against the red hair.

"Hey Marui! Guess what a little birdie told me?" Yukimura all but purred. Marui pouted.

"'Mura-buchou, you know I hate this game. Can't you just tell me?" Marui pleaded with his best puppy eyes. Yukimura shook his head, his grin growing wider. "Fine then, I guess that the little birdie is Yanagi. Is that enough for you to tell me the rest?" Yukimura put on a thoughtful face.

"Hmm, I guess so." He finally relented after Marui had upped the ante to kitten eyes. "Renji told me that Genichirou got a kiss from a certain little someone, hmm? I hope nobody tells Niou or he'll get jealous." Marui instantly blushed the colour of cherries.

"'Mura-buchou, it was just a kiss on the cheek! I give them to everybody! I gave one to Yagyuu last week for helping me finish my History essay! And why would 'Haru be jealous?" Marui blustered as he tried to hide his red cheeks with his hands. He suddenly thought of something and looked suspiciously at Yukimura. "You haven't come to kill me for kissing Fukubuchou, have you?" Yukimura shook his head.

"No, Genichirou heard Renji telling me and rather hurriedly clarified that it had been a thank you kiss. I won't be killing anyone today." Yukimura reassured him, hugging Marui gently to convince him completely. Marui relaxed and leant back into the hug. As he did so, Yukimura saw his picture. "Marui…"

"Yes?"

"Are you suffering from sweet withdrawal or something?" Yukimura asked as he warily eyed the picture of jellybeans doing laps. Marui blushed a little embarrassedly.

"A little." He admitted. Yukimura chuckled a little as he hugged Marui a little tighter before standing up.

"Well, I'd better do some practice now but I'll get Genichirou to go to the corner shop at lunch time and get some sweets for you. It won't kill him to be on sweet duty for once in his life." Famous last words.

* * *

><p>Marui sighed as he waited for Niou to finish collecting all the books. Their extremely disorganised History teacher, who had obviously been in a hurry and hadn't noticed who he was talking to, had asked them to collect some books from the library for their lesson that afternoon. Only problem was that he had forgotten to tell the library staff about this little arrangement so now Niou and one of the library assistants were rushing round the library to get all the books on the teacher's list. Well, the library assistant was rushing; Niou was just strolling along, looking at books that interested him and occasionally picking up a book they needed. Marui would've also been helping but Niou had forbidden him from leaving the seat he had pushed the redhead into, saying that they didn't need an avalanche of paper cuts. Marui would've retorted but they all remembered him almost causing that exact scenario in his first year so he settled for pouting instead.<p>

Marui sighed again as he rested his head in his folded arms. It was boring just sitting there and doing nothing. It didn't help that he had left all his stuff in the classroom or that Niou hadn't gotten him a book to read whilst he was waiting. He would've just leaned over to the nearby bookshelf to grab one but the shelves next to him were all physics books and that was how he had caused the first near avalanche.

Marui was about to sigh again (doesn't he know that sighing causes wrinkles?) when a fantasy book suddenly appeared in front of him. He looked up and smiled when he saw Yanagi.

"Hey." He greeted as Yanagi sat down opposite him. "What are you doing here? Aren't you usually looking at the club's budget now?"

"I usually am but since I'm a student library assistant, I've been dragged in to put books back on shelves since everybody else is helping Niou." Yanagi explained as he handed over the book to Marui so the redhead could read the blurb.

"Has 'Haru got a single book for himself?" Marui asked with a wry smile.

"He has but I think he's passed them off to everybody else to carry." Marui shook his head whilst tutting good-naturedly.

"That 'Haru…"

"Is a sexy beast, puri." Marui looked over his shoulder to see a smirking Trickster. "We've got all the books and the librarian's just checking them out."

"Just in time too. It's just one minute and thirty-nine seconds to the end of lunch." Yanagi commented as he stood whilst Niou helped Marui to his feet. "Would you like me to check that book out for you?" Marui nodded and Yanagi took the book from him before leading the two to the main desk. He waited patiently for head librarian to finish checking out the last couple of History books before quickly stamping out Marui's.

"Thank you." Marui said as he accepted the book back.

"No problem." Yanagi replied. "Would you like some help carrying these books?" Marui quickly shook his head.

"No, it's-"

"Yeah, we could do with the help." Niou said, looking at Marui pointedly. Marui shrank back a little, holding his book close to his chest as Yanagi picked up half the books, leaving the other half for Niou. Niou got a good grip on his pile before carefully offering his forearm to Marui. "Here, Maru, hold on or you'll fall over." Marui nodded and gently but firmly held on to Niou's forearm before they started to follow Yanagi who was waiting for them by the library door.

They managed to get to the classroom without any incidents. There was another late student from Marui and Niou's tutor group who took Yanagi's pile of books off him.

"Thanks for helping us, Yanagi. And sorry for making you late for homeroom." Marui said as he let go off Niou's arm.

"No problem, Marui, I'm certain my teacher will understand and even if she didn't, my friends' safety is more important to me than being on time for homeroom." Yanagi said with a small smile as Marui blushed lightly. "I'd better get going now though. See you later."

"Thanks again… See you at practice." Marui called after Yanagi's retreating back. Yanagi waved over his shoulder just in time for Marui to see as he entered the classroom. Marui closed the door behind him as Niou put pile of books on the teacher's desk before taking Marui's hand and leading him to their desk. Marui carefully slid into his seat and pretended to listen to the homeroom's teacher's announcement as he instead read the book that Yanagi had given him under the desk. Niou could take his own History notes for once.

* * *

><p>When Niou and Marui entered the changing room that afternoon, they were confronted with the strange sight of a pale Jackal being comforted by Yagyuu. Marui let go off Niou's hand and hurried over to Jackal's side, sitting down next to the Brazilian and gently rubbing his back soothingly.<p>

"Jackal, what's the matter? What happened?" Marui asked concernedly as he worriedly touched Jackal's arm. Jackal opened his mouth as if to speak but no sound came out and he started to shake. Marui and Niou both looked at Yagyuu instead for an explanation.

"Yukimura-kun has gone on a rampage and Jackal was one of the first victims." Niou and Marui's faces drained instantly. Yukimura on a rampage was beyond not good.

"W-why?" Marui squeaked as he clung fearfully to Jackal's arm, also starting to shake a little.

"Sanada-kun's fangirls saw him buying some sweets and now they're plaguing him with baked goods. Yukimura-kun is more than a little annoyed." Yagyuu explained. Marui paled even more. Sanada had been getting sweets for him so he was probably right at the top of Yukimura's 'To Kill' list.

"D-do you th-think 'M-M-Mura-buchou will b-be c-coming in h-h-here anytime s-soon?" He all but whimpered out as he hid behind Jackal slightly. Yagyuu shrugged.

"Only Yanagi-kun would be able to foresee that and, unfortunately, he was the second victim." Yagyuu said as he pointed to a corner of the changing room. Niou and Marui looked over and saw Yanagi curled up in the corner, rocking back and forth as he mumbled unintelligible words under his breath. They both gulped and Niou held out his hand for Marui.

"Come on, Maru, let's go home before we get dragged into this mess. I prefer having no legs to losing what little sanity I have left, puri." Niou said dryly as he helped Marui to his feet. Marui nodded, waving quickly to the others before sticking close to Niou as they crept out of the changing room. As they slinked away, Niou chanced a glance over at the tennis courts and shuddered a little. Sanada could only just be seen over the mass of females and bright pink gift boxes. He felt Marui shudder as well at the sight and he squeezed the redhead's hand comfortingly before quickly tugging him out of the school grounds. Just in time too, with what happened next.

One particularly adventurous girl managed to elbow her way to the front, though it wasn't just to give him her gift (which, by the way, was wrapped in sparkly pink paper, Barbie pink ribbons and flamingo pink feathers. Sickening). She grabbed his arm and yanked him down to her level. Sanada's eyes widened and he only just managed to turn his head as the girl planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek.

Mount Yukimura erupted.

"Sanada Genichirou! Club office! NOW! Tennis is cancelled for today! All members get their bags and be gone in ten minutes! All non-members get off the courts! Anyone left on in ten seconds, I will make sure they have detention for the rest of the term! Do. I. Make. Myself. CLEAR?" Yukimura roared. Everybody froze and paled before quickly scrambling to do Yukimura's orders. Yukimura sent the still frozen Sanada a Look. Sanada quickly defrosted and all but scampered to the office.

Nobody knows what happened in that office and anybody who asks promptly gets tarundoru'd but the two spent several hours in there, every single piece of furniture was on its side and Sanada came out haggard, limping and with a very smug Yukimura hanging off his arm.

Meanwhile, a good way away from Yukimura's wrath, Niou and Marui were just a couple of streets away from the redhead's house.

"So I heard from a little bird that you gave a kiss to Fukubuchou, puri." Niou finally broke the fearful silence that he and Marui had been walking in, though he couldn't help looking over his shoulder to make sure a raging bluenette wasn't coming after them.

"Why do people always say 'a little bird'? We all know they mean Yanagi." Marui sighed.

"Because that way we can pretend he doesn't know everything. But that still doesn't confirm what he told me." Niou said smoothly, poking Marui lightly in the stomach. Marui batted the hand away as he blushed lightly.

"Okay, I kissed Fukubuchou but it was just on the cheek! A thank you for helping me! Why is everybody so bothered about it? Or are you jealous?" Marui asked as he tried to will away his blush. To his surprise, Niou's cheeks went a little pink.

"I'm not jealous. Why would I be? It's just that I've helped you a lot more than him." Niou muttered as they arrived at Marui's house. Marui opened the door and stepped inside. Niou gave him a small wave before turning round to walk away. He hadn't gotten more than a step, though, when a hand suddenly grabbed his sleeve. He looked back at Marui.

"Thank you for helping me." Marui murmured as he stood on his tiptoes and kissed Niou near his mouth. Marui pulled back after a few seconds, blushing brightly. "See ya tomorrow." Marui said in such a high pitch that he put mice to shame before quickly stepping inside and closing the door. Niou was also blushing and was more than a little dazed as he started to walk away. What a thank you…

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!


	7. Chapter Six

Man, it's been a long time since I've posted anything! I would've had this up earlier but between grandparents, college, friends turning every line into porn and general laziness it took a bit longer than I expected. I hope the long wait has made it all the more sweeter. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince Of Tennis. It firmly belongs to Takeshi Konomi.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Chapter Six<strong>_

It had been several days since the Incident (neither Niou nor Marui could think of it as anything else without blushing) but Marui and Niou were finally back on normal speaking-without-stammering terms just in time for Niou to get detention for speaking whilst the teacher was talking.

"Sorry for getting you in trouble, 'Haru." Marui apologised for what had to be the fifteenth time, pushing his slipping glasses up before quickly clinging to Niou's arm again as the Trickster guided him through the crowded hallways to the cafeteria.

"Stop apologising, Maru, I was the one who was talking. I'm just annoyed that I got detention today of all days, puri." Niou sighed with a scowl as he opened the doors into the cafeteria, glaring a group of first years out of the way so he could easily guide Marui.

"Don't worry, 'Haru, since it's Friday the opticians will be open until late. And if worse comes to worse then I can always get my contacts tomorrow." Marui soothed as they arrived at the table the rest of the team were sitting at, Niou helping him to slide on to the bench.

"I know, I just don't want to see you hurt anymore." Niou said as he vaguely gestured at Marui whose entire body had not managed to escape injury. Marui blushed slightly and shyly leaned against Niou.

"Thanks for worrying." He murmured as Akaya sniggered slightly.

"Aww, looks like Niou-senpai isn't so uncaring after all!" Akaya teased. Niou scowled at him over Marui's head.

"That doesn't mean I'm not revengeful, puri." Niou said lowly as he reached behind Marui so he could poke Akaya in the side where he knew the second year had a bruise. The seaweed head yelped and wiggled away from the older two and into Yukimura's arms. "Don't go trying to get 'Mura-buchou to punish me, brat, he heard everything and knows you deserved that poke. And speaking of 'Mura-buchou, I'm not going to be at practice today. I've got detention." Niou rushed the last bit, wanting to get Yukimura's anger over and done with as quickly as possible.

"That's alright." Yukimura said surprisingly calmly. "You can just join Marui tomorrow in making up for all the laps he's missed." Marui winced slightly at the reminder. Niou noticed the flinch and squeezed Marui's hand comfortingly.

"And we call Fukubuchou sadistic." Niou murmured with a wolfish grin into Marui's ear, the smirk turning into a genuine smile as Marui tried to stifle his giggles, laughing along softly with his friend.

* * *

><p>"Where's Marui-senpai? Isn't Niou-senpai bringing him here so we can watch him?" Akaya asked, his voice slightly muffled by the shirt he was pulling over his head. He yelped as a button got caught in his hair, struggling violently to get it out and only succeeding in hurting himself more. Yukimura took pity on the boy and gently caught his wrists to stop him struggling and helping to get the shirt off.<p>

"And that's why you always unbutton it first before pulling it off. Marui and Niou's last lesson today is Music and Marui has some theory to catch up on so he's staying there to do it whilst Niou's in detention just a few rooms down. They said they would meet up with us at _Whirls_ after Marui's gotten his new contacts." Yukimura explained as he folded up the shirt and put it in Akaya's bag as the second year dragged on his tennis shirt. "I'm going out now. You might want to hurry up, Akaya. If you miss the warm up laps again then I'll make you run the make up laps with Niou and Marui tomorrow." Yukimura said as he started to walk out, grabbing Sanada's hand on the way. "By the way, that's 300 laps!" He called before the door shut behind him. Akaya paled and quickly scrambled into the rest of his clothes, only just remembering to grab his tennis racket as he ran outside, flattening a couple of first years on the way.

Friday afternoons were always the worse for practice. Not because nobody was paying attention due to the excitement of the weekend. That would've been easy to handle. No, Friday afternoons were the worse because Yukimura, anticipating slacking from a majority of the club members over the weekend, always pushed them twice as hard as usual. It really didn't help that, whilst a lot better than before, Yukimura was still in a snit over what had happened on Tuesday so they were working more like thrice as hard.

"Marui-senpai…and Niou-senpai…are lucky…" Akaya groaned as he collapsed to the ground when Yukimura finally allowed them a break, panting harshly as he flopped on to his back. He quickly inspected the water bottle that Yanagi handed him before nodding gratefully as he began to chug it down.

"Careful, Akaya, if you drink too fast, you'll make yourself sick." Yanagi warned though he was drinking his water just as fast. "If you feel that hard done by then just remember the amount of laps that Niou and Marui will have to do tomorrow. It is highly unlikely that Seiichi will allow them any rests." Akaya winced in sympathy for his senpai.

"By the way, that reminds me, why isn't Marui-senpai taking part in practice? I understand that if we make him go too fast then he trips but I saw him playing when that mean sub forced him and he was okay. Why doesn't he just do drills?" Akaya questioned, hauling himself into a sitting position so he could see Yanagi properly.

"Because we're going with the rule better safe than sorry." Yukimura answered. Akaya immediately jumped up and hid behind Yanagi, making Yukimura laugh. "Don't worry, Akaya, I won't punish you for taking a break on my order." Akaya slumped in relief as he came out from behind Yanagi. "Come on, it's not that bad, is it?"

"You're only saying that because you can feel your legs. And I still don't understand why Marui-senpai can't do any drills. We're all here to look after him so he would safer than around school and the only thing that he would be in danger from would be getting accidentally hit by tennis balls, which we're all in danger of." Akaya pointed out.

"Do you resent him getting out of practice that much?" Yukimura asked. Akaya shook his head.

"I don't resent him, I just find it a little unfair since you usually barely let us off when we have injuries or are ill and stuff." Akaya explained.

"Oh, that's because of…" Yukimura trailed off uncertainly.

"Because of?" Akaya prompted. Yanagi sighed.

"Just tell him, Seiichi. It's not that bad and Akaya can handle it." He said. Yukimura sighed as well.

"I know. I just don't like remembering how mean I was to Marui back then." He admitted, smiling slightly when Akaya's eyes widened disbelievingly. He knew the bluenette was sadistic but he usually only mean to bullies and kind to everyone on the team. "Okay, it's not like it's a big secret anyway so I might as well tell. You know how Marui has a small scar on the bridge of his nose? You assumed it to be a chicken pox scar since you have a similar looking one on your stomach but it isn't. He got it when he was pushed down some stairs." Akaya's gasp was ignored as Yanagi picked up the story.

"Marui had recently gotten some new glasses that fitted his face properly so he wasn't as clumsy as before. Whilst some like Niou were glad since it meant he didn't fall and get hurt quite so much, a majority missed their 'clumsy clown' and so took to tripping him and pushing him to get their laughs again. One day, somebody pushed him hard, not realising how close to the stairs they were. Marui was unable to regain his balance in time and fell down them. One of the lenses in his glasses got smashed, causing the scar on his nose, but nobody really cared about that since they were more worried about the fact that he had hit his head on the steps and then on the floor and wasn't moving. He regained consciousness several hours later in the hospital with nothing more than a headache and a sore nose. The person that had pushed him had whipped themselves up into such a frenzy that they were actually worse off than Marui."

"After that, Marui got contacts since his mother was worried about his glasses breaking again and hurting his eyes as well as just his nose. Since he no longer had no glasses to slip and bother him, his balance improved and for months afterwards everybody offered to carry any books that didn't fit in his bag just in case he fell on the stairs again so he could protect himself and some still check his shoelaces whenever they see him." Yukimura finished. "Basically, because of what happened in our first year, everybody is so worried of a repeat incident that they're reluctant to even let him walk by himself. If I let him play tennis then I would probably have half the year hunting me down." Akaya slowly nodded as he took all the information in.

"Okay, that makes sense. It also explains why you were so angry at me when I laughed when he fell down the library steps. Good thing he's getting new contacts today before he could seriously hurt himself." Akaya said as he drained the last of his water before standing up to go and refill his bottle.

"Careful, you don't want to jinx him. And after you've refilled your bottle, we're starting practice again." Yukimura said, laughing as Akaya groaned and near collapsed again. Forget about what he thought before, Yukimura wasn't kind, he was a slave driver!

* * *

><p>Marui put his pencil down and stretched with a groan of relief as he finished his work, glancing quickly at the clock. There were only five minutes left until Niou's detention so he could just wait but Marui was feeling bored and restless.<p>

'_I've got enough time to drop this off at the Music office.'_ He decided, grabbing his bag and slinging it on to his shoulder as he stood before picking up his work, leaving the classroom and heading towards the stairs. The Music department was strange in the fact that whilst all the classrooms were on one floor, the office was on the floor above. Marui was a bit wary of using the stairs without one of his friends but there was hardly anybody left in the school so he knew he would be safe enough if he just kept a hold on the hand railing. Everybody else in the world could do it so so could he!

Niou felt like jumping for joy when the teacher let him out of detention early. It was only a couple of minutes but he would take what he could. Niou quickly started to make his way to the Music classroom but stopped when he saw Marui coming down the stairs at the end of the hall.

"Marui? I thought I told you to wait for me in the classroom!" Niou called out, cursing when he caused the redhead to jump. Even though Marui's hand went for the hand rail a moment later, it was too late. The damage had already been done. In that moment of surprise, Marui's feet had managed to cross themselves and he was falling forwards.

Marui gasped, closing his eyes and covering his head as the floor got way too close for comfort.

"Bunta!"

Marui opened his eyes in surprise as instead smacking into the cold and hard lino floor, he fell into warm and kind of squishy. The thing gave way underneath him but protected him as they both fell to the floor. As Marui regained his bearings, he realised the squishy thing was Niou.

"'Haru… Wait, why did you catch me? You could've gotten really hurt! Are you hurt? You haven't broken anything, have you?" Marui continued to fuss over Niou until the Trickster stopped him with a furious glare.

"What about you? You could've died, Bunta! I told you to stay away from stairs, puri." Niou blazed angrily. Marui's gaze slid to the side guiltily and Niou sighed, calming down a little as he pulled Marui into a tight embrace. "I know you want to be independent, Bunta, but you need to think and be more careful."

"I know, I'm sorry. It's just that…everybody else can use stairs by themselves and my balance is a lot better than two years ago so I thought, since there was nobody to trip me up, that I could…" Marui mumbled ashamedly.

"There might be no one to trip you but that also means there's no one to get help if you do get hurt. And you can use the stairs, you were perfectly fine on them until I called out but, whilst your balance is better, you still can't recover it as quickly as most people so you end up in situations like this. There's never any guarantee that they'll be nothing to distract you so at least tell someone, okay Bunta?" Niou said softly. Marui nodded slowly, suddenly glad that Niou was holding him so close since it meant his face was hidden.

"Okay… But-"

"But nothing! I don't want to see you hurt, Bunta!" Niou yelled, pushing Marui away so he could look at him furiously. His furious look turned into one of confusion when he saw that Marui was blushing brightly.

"I know that and I understand. I was just wondering why you were calling me by my first name." Marui murmured as he tried to hide his face by ducking his head. It was Niou's turn to blush and he turned his head to the side in embarrassment.

"A-ah, th-that…" Marui looked up at the stuttering and had to giggle slightly. It was so rare to see the normally cool Trickster so flustered that he had to take this amusement whilst he could. Niou heard the soft laugh and looked up resentfully. He opened his mouth to protest before quickly closing it as a calculating look passed over his face. Marui looked at him in confusion over the sudden change of expression before eeping as Niou suddenly surged forward and kissed him. Niou stayed there for several long moments before slowly pulling back, smirking when he saw that, not only was Marui twice as flushed as before, he was looking slightly dazed. "One: that's how to properly thank somebody. Two: that's also why I'm calling you by your first name. Now shouldn't we be going to get your contacts, Bunta?" Marui could only nod as Niou pulled him to his feet and began leading him away.

_Whirls Café_

"Mou, what's taking Marui-senpai and Niou-senpai so long?" Akaya complained as he sulkily sipped his milkshake. He wanted to see his redheaded senpai able to walk by himself and able to play tennis again. Yukimura soothingly patted his hair, smiling patiently at the second year who'd been asking the exact same question every minute for the past ten minutes.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon. You don't want them to rush, not put the contacts in properly and then Marui get hurt as a result, now do you?" Yukimura pointed out for the eleventh time. Akaya shook his head.

"No." He agreed with a sigh. Yukimura patted his head one last time before turning to have a sip from his own drink only to have it spill all over the table as Akaya suddenly jumped to his feet, waving his arms about madly. As Yukimura turned to get some serviettes, he looked over to see what all the fuss was about. He saw Niou and a glasses-less Marui walking towards the group, though he was surprised to see that Marui was holding Niou's hand.

"Hey guys." Marui greeted as he and Niou sat down, the duo still holding hands. "What happened here?" He asked as he looked at pool of orange juice on the table. Yukimura opened his mouth to answer but Akaya jumped in before he could make a sound.

"That's not important! What is is why Marui-senpai is still holding Niou-senpai's hand? Did you break your glasses in jubilation only to find out that they still didn't have you contacts or something?" Akaya asked. Marui blushed and shook his head as Niou smirked and took his hand from Marui's and instead put it round the tensai's waist. Yukimura blinked at the gesture before his eyes widened in realisation and he grinned.

"I'm going to get some more serviettes. I'll get some celebratory cake while I'm at it." Yukimura said as he squeezed out of the booth and made his way to the counter, unsurprised when he heard footsteps behind him. He placed the order before turning to Yanagi. "Go ahead and say it."

"I told you the 'a little birdie' story would hurry them along." Yanagi said as he grabbed some serviettes and handed them to his friend.

"Of course, you're always right. At least we didn't have to resort to waxing the stairs." Yanagi stayed suspiciously quiet at this. Yukimura looked at him sharply. "Renji!"

"Marui came out unhurt and, whilst 'a little birdie' certainly did hurry them along, this is what they needed to confess to each other before middle school ended." Yanagi said, holding his hands up defensively. Yukimura glared at him before sighing as he looked back over at the table, smiling when he saw Niou kiss Marui on the cheek.

"I suppose…" He agreed reluctantly, picking up his order and going back to the table with Yanagi on his heels. "By the way, Renji, at practice tomorrow…"

"Yes?"

"300 laps."

_**The End**_

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** And that's all folks! I hope you enjoyed it. It's personally not my favourite chapter but that might be because my friends managed to turn every line into something pornographic so now I just cringe. What are friends for, eh? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed **Megane-chan**! See ya!


End file.
